OPEKEPE: 1,036 tax IDs received €22.7 million in subsidies

Agricultural subsidies worth €22.7 million were found to have been illegally collected through OPEKEPE by 1,036 tax IDs in the first phase of the Financial Crime Unit’s investigation, according to statements by Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis [1], [2]. A total of 819,620 applications from the 2019–2024 period were examined, revealing “indicators of illegality and fraud” in 6,354 tax IDs, whose assets have been frozen.

Five main fraud methods were identified: 1) falsification of farmland ownership records, 2) applications under the tax IDs of deceased persons or false inheritance claims, 3) declarations of livestock that did not exist or were fewer than declared, 4) applications submitted without meeting eligibility criteria, and 5) declaration of farmland in areas where the applicant neither lives nor works.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is preparing a second case file involving 10 MPs, expected to be sent to Parliament within the month, according to reports.

At the same time, according to reports [1], [2], the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is preparing a second case file following the one targeting former agriculture ministers Lefteris Avgenakis and Makis Voridis. This new case is expected to implicate 10 MPs and be submitted to Parliament within September.

It is worth noting that MPs are not covered by the law on ministerial responsibility, which allows the European Public Prosecutor’s Office to summon them directly if Parliament decides to lift their immunity.